Panda turned eleven months—I can’t believe these monthly updates are almost at their end. It has been quite a month, celebrating Panda’s first Christmas, seeing him take his first couple of steps, and speaking his first words! Panda is constantly on the move, trying to catch up with his big brother.
I rarely get useable photos of Panda because he’s always on the move! Solution: plop him in his high chair where he can’t escape.
Like Lion’s first Christmas, Panda was largely indifferent to it all, more interested in trying to eat wrapping paper than actually playing with new toys. He did enjoy our big gift to both kids, a coffee table/hidden train table that I built them two days before Christmas, mostly using it to cruise. Lion loved sharing Christmas with Panda, though, eagerly showing his brother how to rip the wrapping paper off gifts.
Playing with his Christmas gifts.
Teeth: Still at eight teeth! No sign of the molars, yet.
Eating: Panda is a great eater, as Lion was at this age. He’s still not great about eating apples (he likes them, but always gags when he eats them) but manages just about everything else. Panda loves blueberries, raspberries, fish, edamame, lima beans and green beans. We bought him his own water bottle/straw cup, but the two boys seem to enjoy stealing each other’s bottles more than using their own.
Sleeping: Panda’s sleeping has been mostly the same, though he may be getting ready to drop down to one nap. On the weekends, he still takes two long naps, but at daycare he often takes only one short nap. He’s always had a tougher time napping at daycare, though, so I’m not convinced he’s actually getting the sleep he needs.
Chasing his big brother up the stairs.
Favorite activities: Panda and Lion have been enjoying each other’s company even more if that’s possible. They hold hands in the car, “talk” with each other, play together and chase each other around.
Panda’s favorite toy is still the play kitchen and he gets daily use out of it. He loves to stand up, open all the doors and drawers and dump everything on the floor. Other favorite toys include shakers, rattles and bells (which one set of grandparents got him for Christmas), cars and trains, and balls.
Best buddies!
He seems to have found a new game, or at least a way to get some attention. He likes to crawl up two stairs (we still don’t have a baby gate up at the bottom of the steps) and wait there until I run over to pull him off, at which point he starts giggling. Repeat ten or twelve times. Mr. Dolphin didn’t realize that this was a new game until Panda started banging on the stairs and shouting loudly for Mr. Dolphin to run over.
Panda has also been enjoying cause and effect. He loves tossing a toy off his high chair then laughs hysterically when I go looking for it. While he’s always been big on smiles, full laughter is pretty rare so I have been enjoying these games with him.
A very rare photo with me in it! We were having some fun on Christmas morning.
Panda was never one for being tossed up in the air when he was younger. He would get a terrified look on his face and start crying. Now, though, he absolutely loves the motion and laughs when we toss him up.
Milestones: Panda has taken his first couple of steps, but isn’t particularly interested in walking. We were surprised because he was an early crawler and has been cruising for months now. His journey to walking is much different from Lion’s, and more like what I was expecting for a first-time walker. He takes two steps, then falls and crawls. Then, he’ll try again later (with lots of encouragement), take two steps, then fall and crawl. Lion’s first time walking, he took six steps, fell, then didn’t try walking again for an entire week. The next time he tried walking, he walked halfway across the room, fell, stood up and walked the rest of the way.
Panda also hit the big milestone of speaking his first words! We weren’t sure at first, but now that Panda has done it repeatedly, we can officially say that his first word is “please.” Sometimes he just says “please,” and other times he will say “please” in conjunction with baby sign language for the word. It’s super cute and I love that this is his first word. He also occasionally says “bye” while waving.
When do babies stop putting EVERYTHING in their mouths?
blogger / persimmon / 1225 posts
Yay for first steps and first word! Chip has yet to walk but he can take steps while holding on to things and his first word is “dada.” Just like Crumb, haha!
blogger / apricot / 482 posts
@Mrs. Cookie: Love when the kiddos start talking! It seems like most kids’ first words are “Mama” or “Dada,” but shockingly not with our kids (don’t know what we’re doing wrong)! These were, maybe Lion’s tenth and eleventh words? At least Panda’s word is pretty useful…Lion’s first word was “dogba” (dog) even though we don’t even have a dog!